SCOTUS Gave Planned Parenthood A Victory Today Thanks To Justices Roberts And Kavanaugh

Planned Parenthood got another victory at the Supreme Court today thanks to the fecklessness of Justices Roberts and Kavanaugh, who both declined to hear a case on whether states can defund abortion businesses under the Medicaid Act.

According to CNN, the Roberts-led court "left in place two lower court opinions that said that states violate federal law when they terminate Medicaid contracts with Planned Parenthood affiliates who offer preventive care for low-income women."

It requires four justices to hear a case before the court; only three agreed it should be contested – Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch. Both Kavanaugh and Roberts sided with the court's liberals.

In a fierce dissent, Justice Thomas argued that that the Supreme Court declined to do its job by rejecting the case.

"What explains the Court's refusal to do its job here?" Thomas wrote. "I suspect it has something to do with the fact that some respondents in these cases are named Planned Parenthood."

Thomas further argued that the case in question had nothing to do with abortion rights and everything to do with private rights under the Medicaid Act.

"But these cases are not about abortion rights," he said. "They are about private rights of action under the Medicaid Act. Resolving the question presented here would not even affect Planned Parenthood's ability to challenge the states' decisions; it concerns only the rights of individual Medicaid patients to bring their own suits."

CNN profiled this particular case's history from a lower court ruling to the Supreme Court's decision on Monday:

Kansas -- one of the states that had asked the Supreme Court to step in -- wanted the justices to review a lower court opinion that held that while states have "broad authority" to ensure that Medicaid health care providers are qualified to provide medical services, "the power has limits."

"States may not terminate providers from their Medicaid program for any reason they see fit, especially when that reason is unrelated to the provider's competence and the quality of the health care it provides" a panel of judges on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals held last February.

Kansas and Louisiana moved to terminate Medicaid contracts with the affiliates after a group opposing abortion published edited videos in 2014 they said depicted officials Planned Parenthood Federation of America discussing fetal tissue and appearing to talk about the price of such tissue.

While CNN's description of the videos as "edited" is clearly intended to portray them as deceptively edited, the group has released unedited raw footage of some of the famous undercover videos. Though Justices Roberts and Kavanaugh did give Planned Parenthood a victory today, the decision does not necessarily mean they do not have "serious objections" to the case, according to CNN Supreme Court analyst Steve Vladeck. Likely, the two justices declined the case to avoid any high-profile decisions in the first year of Kavanaugh's tenure on the court to maintain its appearance of impartiality following his contentious nomination process.

Recently, Chief Justice Roberts signaled his desire to keep the Supreme Court out of controversial territory for the sake of appearances when he publicly rebuked President Trump for calling out judicial activism from the Left.

The pro-life organization Americans United For Life expressed disappointment with Monday's ruling.

"AUL is disappointed that the Court declined to hear argument in these cases, and we join the dissent in calling on the Court to ‘do its duty,’" said AUL’s President and CEO Catherine Glenn Foster. "But the good news is that there are other similar cases pending in lower courts, which may give the Supreme Court another opportunity to decide this important issue. In the meantime, AUL will continue to fight to protect states from being forced to use their limited public funds to subsidize abortion businesses."

SCOTUS Gave Planned Parenthood A Victory Today Thanks To Justices Roberts And Kavanaugh
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December 10, 2018
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"Case 29 continues by explaining the creative beauty of a soul joining with a new human being. This coupling of an intelligent life force before birth brings us full circle from the death scene described in Case 1.Dr. N: Well, I'm glad you arrive safe and sound in your new body. Tell me, how old is the baby?

S: Five months have passed (since conception).Dr. N: Is this your usual arrival time as far as the maturation of a child?S: In my lives ... I have arrived at different times ... depending on the baby, the mother, and my life-to-be.

Dr. N: As a soul, are you in distress if the baby is aborted from the mother's womb for any reason before full term?S: We know if a baby is going to full term or not. Not being born comes as no surprise to us. We may be around to just comfort the child.

Dr. N: Well, if the child does not go to term, is your life assignment as a soul aborted as well?

S: No, there never was a full life assignment as far as that child was concerned.Dr. N: Might some babies who are aborted never have souls?

S: That depends on how far along they are. The ones who die very early often don't need us.Note: This issue was as hotly debated in the past as it is today. During the thirteenth century, the Christian church found it necessary to establish guidelines for the existence of souls with regard to an aborted fetus. St. Thomas Aquinas and other medieval theologians arbitrarily decided ensoulment took place forty days after conception.Dr. N: Assuming a baby is going to full term, do you know about the convergence habits of other souls with these children?S: (offhandedly) Oh, some float around more than others, going in and out of the baby until birth because they get bored.

Dr. N: What do you usually do?S: I'm average, I guess. Actually, I don't spend a long time at any one stretch with babies because it can get pretty dull.

Dr. N: All right, let's take this current situation inside your mother and allow some time to pass. What do you do when you are not with the unborn baby?

S: (laughs with delight) You want the truth? I'll tell you. Me - I play! It's a fine time to leave and purely goof off ... when the baby is less active. I have fun with my friends who are doing the same thing. We bounce around Earth to visit with each other ... and go to interesting places ... where we have once lived together in former lives.Dr. N: Don't you and these other souls feel leaving the unborn baby for long periods is shirking the responsibilities of your assignment on Earth?

S: (defensively) Oh, lighten up! Who said anything about long periods? I don't do that! Anyway, our tough exercises haven't begun yet.Dr. N: When you leave the baby for a while, what astral plane are you on in relation to Earth?S: We are still on the Earth plane ... and we try not to get too distracted, either. A lot of our fooling around is in the neighborhood of the baby. I don't want you to get the idea there is nothing for us to do with unborn babies.

Dr. N: Oh ...?

S: (continues) I'm busy with this new mind, even though it's not fully ready.Dr. N: Why don't we talk more about that? When your soul enters a baby to remain with this new body for a lifetime, give me the scope of this undertaking.S: (takes a deep sigh) Once I attach to a child it is necessary to bring my mind into synchronization with the brain. We have to get used to each other as partners.

Dr. N: This is what other people tell me, but do you and the baby have an affinity for each other right away?

S: Well ... I am in the mind of the child but separate, too. I go slowly at first."